Critical Linking: September 27th, 2013

“For $5, I’ll leave a five-star review of your Kindle ebook, purchase it (up to .99), ‘like’ it, and vote down negative reviews!” After signing up for the help-for-hire site Fiverr, I clicked the “Order Now” button and was redirected to Paypal. I entered my Paypal information, and was then re-directed back to Fiverr to enter the URL of my ebook on Amazon. For this test, I used a dummy ebook I self-published under a pseudonym.

Eight hours later, I checked my ebook’s page on Amazon and there it was: A glowing, five-star review.

A peculiar Apple invention landed on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s desk on Thursday, describing a method in which an author or artist can digitally autograph a fan’s ebook or other digital media using a special app.

Designers do try to personalize their selections to their clients, buying museum and auction catalogs and books on specific artists being collected by a young Wall Streeter, for example, said Thom Filicia, the telegenic decorator and brand. “Books can be aspirational and inspirational,” he said. “I try to create a narrative, a story within a story.”